John Schoenherr

Schoenherr was a resident of Delaware Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. He died on April 8, 2010, of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Easton, Pennsylvania.

Schoenherr may be known best as the original illustrator of the dust jacket art of Dune, a 1965 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert that inaugurated a book series and media franchise. He had previously illustrated the serializations of the novel in Analog, an endeavor which secured him a 1965 Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist. He later did the art for the Analog serialization of Herbert's Children of Dune. In 1978 Berkley Books published The Illustrated Dune, an edition of Dune with 33 black-and-white sketch drawings and 8 full color paintings by Schoenherr. Herbert wrote in 1980 that though he had not spoken to Schoenherr prior to the artist creating the paintings, the author was surprised to find that the artwork appeared exactly as he had imagined its fictional subjects, including sandworms, Baron Harkonnen and the Sardaukar.

Beginning in the 1960s, Schoenherr created numerous science fiction illustrations, in addition to artwork in other genres. Among the books he illustrated are The Wolfling and Rascal by Sterling North, the latter a Newbery Honor Book. Under John W. Campbell, Jr. and Ben Bova at Analog, he also illustrated the first Dragonriders of Pern stories by Anne McCaffrey, the 1967/1968 novellas "Weyr Search" and "Dragonrider" (each featured on one Analog cover as well) that were subsequently developed as the novel Dragonflight. Schoenherr's July 1975 cover for Analog has been cited as influential in the designs for the Star Wars character Chewbacca. He also worked for paperback and hardcover science fiction publishers like Ace Books and Doubleday.

John Carl Schoenherr (July 5, 1935 – April 8, 2010) was an American illustrator. He won the 1988 Caldecott Medal for U.S. children's book illustration, recognizing Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, which recounts the story of the first time a father takes his youngest child on a traditional outing to spot an owl. He was posthumously inducted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2015.